G.M. Opens Its Own Battery Research Laboratory 173
Al writes "Bankrupt automaker G.M. has taken a significant step towards reinventing itself by opening a battery laboratory in Michigan on a site that once churned out internal combustion engines. The new facility lets G.M. engineers simulate all kinds of conditions to determine how long batteries will last once they're inside its vehicles. Battery packs are charged and discharged while being subjected to high and low temperatures as well as extremes of humidity. Engineers can also simulate different altitudes by placing the packs in barometric chambers. The facility has also been designed so that engineers located in New York and Germany and at the University of Michigan can perform experiments remotely. Despite its financial troubles, G.M. has committed to producing the Volt and is already working on second- and third-generation battery technology at the new lab."
Too little too late (Score:2, Insightful)
I never thought... (Score:5, Insightful)
...I'd own part of a battery research laboratory!
Oh really? (Score:2, Insightful)
I'd like to make a safe bet that this research lab is going to be used exclusively to butter up Congress with tours for more bailout money.
Financing? (Score:2, Insightful)
How can GM afford such an expensive, long-term research facility? Oh, that's right: the money they saved by stiffing workers, pensioners, and their families in bankruptcy.
Re:Financing? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm sorry, but you misspelled "the money they're fleecing from the taxpayers."
Re:Back to step 1. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Back to step 1. (Score:5, Insightful)
Exactly.
A question for the conspiracy theory crowd:
If the was so much demand for an electric car back in the 90's, why did GM, Ford, Honda, and Toyota all end production? If there's money to be made selling 100% electric cars, why didn't someone, somewhere on this very large globe make them - thus making a killing being the only supplier?
At the very least, why hasn't someone made a fortune refurbing used cars into electric?
My theory is that it's the same reason my laptop dies after about 60 minutes....
Re:Back to step 1. (Score:2, Insightful)
scuttled by Chevron (Score:3, Insightful)
Read up on the Toyota RAV4EV electric vehicle first sold in the US in 1997. It was based on the RAV4 body and could travel 120 miles per charge.
The RAV4EV was sold direct to consumers in 2002 in California and cost $33,000 after rebates.
The car was discontinued when Chevron gained rights to NiMH battery patents and forced Toyota to stop producing them for their cars.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rav4ev
Re:I never thought... (Score:3, Insightful)
Sure is nice that you spent your money on SUVs for the last eight years, that they didn't have any financial incentive to do research like this.
Re:Back to step 1. (Score:3, Insightful)
If his notebook is from the 90's, the battery cost well over $100 and it would be a fluke if it held any charge at all.
There are plenty of cars from the 90's, many of them worth less than the replacement cost of a battery for his notebook computer.
If that's too vague, I think what we're trying to say is that battery technology was *REALLY BAD* in the early to mid 90's
I don't like the odds (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, IF. On the other hand, maybe GM will produce mediocre batteries, but will use its government subsidy to undercut and crush a great battery-producing startup. Or maybe batteries are a dead end, and fuel cells are the answer, but GM/Congress are not astute enough to figure it out.
Why are we betting on a proven loser? Why not just create an X-Prize for energy storage and let the best company win?
Re:Fixed that for you... (Score:2, Insightful)
There's some interest in small cars with small engines in the US, but you've got to admit that it isn't that substantial. Small cars sell in Europe and Japan, but larger cars sell in the US. A large part of this is due to perceptions of safety; your family will be perfectly safe if they're encased by a 4-ton steel cage.
A large part of that is the price of gasoline. Safety is a convenient excuse, but money talks....Europe and Asia have had gasoline selling for over US $6.00 per gallon (EUR 1.30 per liter) for years. Witness what happened last year when gasoline touched US $4.00 in the USA: small cars were flying off the shelf. This year gas is back down to $2.50 and the small cars aren't so hot any more. Government policy/taxation is what drives the small/large car decision.
Re:Fixed that for you... (Score:5, Insightful)
I think another large factor dealing heavily into the American preference for large cars besides safety:
Europe is fairly cramped, overall. Citizens live in dense cities and towns, and drive on narrow roads that were once oxcart paths or cobblestone streets, and small cars are easy to maneuver in these situations. Since this isn't really an issue in most of the US, we prefer to buy larger cars so we can have more legroom, and ride in greater comfort. Performance aside, given the choice between a Golf or a Passat in Europe, I'd take the Golf, but I'd take the Passat in the U.S.
Gas prices factor in somewhat, but most people don't often base a car choice on that alone.
Why not have GM go into the Battery lease Business (Score:2, Insightful)
When you buy your EV car, you don't OWN the battery, you lease it for a small periodic fee. GM would have to make it so these batteries can easily be removed and new ones replaced. Not unlike a simple docking system. You pull into a participating "gas" station, now eventually could be called a "Battery Replacement" station. A motorist pulls into station, pays a small and reasonable "battery replacement" fee, a new one is popped in, and away they go. The dead battery is then placed on a charger, powered by wind, Sun, or even the Grid.
Station owners would have to arrange for even distribution of batteries throughout the network of Charging stations. Look at http://betterplace.com for details on an outfit already doing this, who already has a head start, and lots of money to work with.
Car makers and Battery pack makers have to come up with a STANDARD docking system so ALL car makers can use the same configuration.
GM now leases these batteries to the car owner, and also to the charging stations. GM would also have to setup a battery reclamation service to take back used batteries, renovate them (if possible) or dispose of them in a clean environmental way.
Not only that, but enterprising individuals can also build coin operated charging stations, place them in rest areas, street parking, company parking lots, or anyplace where people need to park their cars. They park their car, go to a credit card or coin machine, pick the space (or charge station number), pay and plug in.
We need to start building up our infrastructure, and phat cat investors should start investing in small enterprising individuals to start building them. Engineering wise, they are simple to build. Power enters in through a metal conduit, a coin or credit operated switch is then used to power an outlet. Parker comes in, plops in about $3 for 3 hours of charging time, does their shopping, and comes back to a fully charged "Volt" or whatever they plan to drive.
Someone needs to tell GM about this idea, and get them to start thinking of helping build our renewable energy economy.
John
Re:Now actually take it in a positive direction... (Score:3, Insightful)
It doesn't say it in this article, so I can't RTFA you ;) but in others that I've read it's stated that 90% of the energy goes back into the grid. The plant itself is very "green".
Re:Not really that important... (Score:3, Insightful)
No it is not. GM went bankrupt because Government and the UAW. Government foisted CAFE mileage standards on them that forced them to build and sell cars that they couldn't make money on and retarded their ability to sell larger cars and trucks that they were better and building. UAW has a MONOPOLY on all labor for the big 3 and forced them into higher labor costs and kept them from importing the smaller cars that their European subsidiary already produced (now the Govt. is trying to sell off those subsidiaries on the condition that they never export the cars to the USA).
If Congress wants to make a bold move to save the domestic car companies, they should eliminate CAFE and outlaw the UAW monopoly on labor.
Re:Back to step 1. (Score:3, Insightful)
Sure, dealerships make money on maintenance - but the auto makers don't. The manufacturers make their money on the car & the financing division of their companies. (At least that's the way it worked before it got nationalized...)
I stand by my premise - if an electric car could be mass-marketed, why hasn't it? What hasn't there been a Tesla or Coda popping up every few years since the EV1 died? Someone, somewhere, is going to be greedy enough to want to make money selling them - even if they don't make a penny after the initial sale.
Surely, some place on earth the patents for these wonderful large NiCads don't apply (China maybe?) - and "bootleg" batteries could be made & used locally. We just haven't seen that happening. That makes me think that even with a couple decades of work, batteries are just now getting good enough to do the job.
Don't get me wrong - I'd love to have a long-range electric car. I drove an EV1, and loved the low end torque, quiet ride, and application of lots of cool technology. I also managed to drain the battery in 10 minutes by flooring it launching off of each stop.